Dark Legacy

Dark Legacy - Robert E. Vardeman

I kinda knew this wasn't going to end well. As a "prerevisionist"* Magic: The Gathering novel it would make me wince a little even if it were written impeccably. It aren't. This novel was supposed to encapsulate the set 'The Dark'. Vardeman's Dominaria (the primary world in Magic: The Gathering), or Dominia if you're old old school, doesn't even resemble the one sketched out by the other early authors.

I've read other Vardeman books and he's supposed to be a better sort of write-to-order genre author, I liked his 'Keys to Paradise ' trilogy well enough in eighth grade (though I wouldn't recommend it to a discerning adult), but 'Dark Legacy' is cliche after cliche and with dialogue that's three thees and a thou'st short of a bad Renaissance Faire.

*"Prerevisionist" is a term for all the Magic storyline novels and comics published before 1998 and before the publishing of 'The Brothers' War and the anthology 'Rath and Storm' when Wizards of the Coast set up standards to keep everything consistent. At least for ~10 years.